Shape shifter Jake Gyllenhaal transformed into a mountain of muscles to play fictional boxer Billy Hope. The actor underwent intense training to gain the body and mindset of a fighter.
"Nightcrawler" actor Jake Gyllenhaal has achieved a killer body for his new movie "South Paw". It is a story revolving around a boxer and his rebirth from a tragedy. With his concerns to look like a boxer, Gyllenhaal dedicated the next months of his life to training twice a day, fully immersing himself in the life of a professional boxer.
In order to accomplish that goal, Gyllenhaal teamed up with trainer Terry Claybon, who had to start from the bottom with the actor, who had no previous boxing experience. Becoming a champion boxer takes years of hard work, dedication and sacrifice. For Jake Gyllenhaal, playing a winning fighter took all that, but compressed into just five grueling months.
His training starts off with a 15 minutes jump rope, then footwork and punching. He perfected his punches through bag drills and gathers a 500-1,000 sit-ups, pull-ups and dips. The most intense is the strength training where he needs to hit the tire with a sledgehammer for 3 minutes non-stop. He was instructed to run five miles every other day but because the actor was a natural runner, he was running eight miles, five days a week. Through that rigorous training, he gained 15 lbs. of muscle.
Jake is dedicated to his craft. Last year in the release of Nightcrawler, the actor got into character through what can only be called manorexia - dropping 30 pounds on a diet of chewing gum and kale salads and running up to 15 miles a day. He played the role of a sociopath journalist named Lou. For the reality-based thriller Everest, Gyllenhaal prepped for his role as an experienced mountaineer by simulating altitude sickness in a hypobaric chamber and trekking in Italy's Dolomite Mountains.
Southpaw is a low budget passion project that had first been rumored to star rapper, Eminem, but never received the green light. After years without support, The Weinstein Company got onboard, and soon the director Antoine Fuqua announced his new leading man, Gyllenhaal.
Fuqua on Gyllenhaal's training said: "I watched him vomit in the gym and almost pass out. I watched him take hits, gut shots in the ribs, get dropped. He took punches and was swollen for real. I'd watch to see if he would stop or drop. He'd keep going. I pushed Jake to the edge and he went right there with me."
In an interview with NPR, Jake Gyllenhaal said that words cannot express how incredibly special Heath Ledger was to him, and the impact his Brokeback Mountain co-star still has on his life. The 10th anniversary of the release of Brokeback Mountain happens later this year, and while Gyllenhaal has worked on numerous films since the Oscar-winning movie, he still seeks the same camaraderie he found on that set. Gyllenhaal, 34, found that the death of his friend and co-star taught him how to appreciate those around him.
He said: "I miss him as a human being and I miss working with him and what an unfortunate thing it is that we won't be able to see the beauty of his expression."
The film which follows Junior Middleweight Champion Billy "The Great" Hope in the midst of serious personal tragedies could be a breakout role for hard-working actor, Jake Gyllenhaal. Share your thoughts on the comment box below.
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